Upgrading on KidsOutAndAbout - what it means

What does it mean to upgrade your listing on KidsOutAndAbout?

Any organization providing activities for babies, kids, teens, parents, or families can post those activities for free on our three exclusive calendars: events, activities, or camps. Unlike Facebook, anything you post to our calendar will be shown to all of our readers... there is no need to pay for them to be shown.

So what kinds of benefits does upgrading provide? Why would you want to do it if you can get a calendar listing for free?

The activities for upgraded organizations appear at the top of the calendar, highlighted with graphics. They will be clicked on 4-5 times more than those of non-upgraded organizations underneath.

Upgraded organizations appear at the top of relevant organization lists on special pages like birthday parties, indoor play, summer fun, schools, preschools, the arts, and more, for the time they are upgraded.

Upgraded organizations have an entire web page on KidsOutAndAbout on which to promote the organization's information, including a long description, gorgeous graphics, as many links to your internal web pages as you like, links to your social media pages, and more. We can help you create the copy and layout for this section if you need assistance.

Upgraded organizations can host giveaways through KidsOutAndAbout at any time, for free, as long as what is being given away is of interest to our audience.

Ugraded organizations' events are featured for frequently on KidsOutAndAbout.com social media postings than non-upgraded events.

Upgraded organizations are much more likely to be chosen in the Editor's Choice day-by-day events list in our weekly e-newsletter.

To the right is a mini-sample showing what an upgraded organization listing looks like. Click on the graphic to see an example of an upgraded listing in real life.

How long does my upgrade last?

You can upgrade for as little as one month, and as long as 24 months. For those who are seeking to promote their summer camp weeks only, we recommend being upgraded in the prime camp shopping months of February or March through May or June, depending on when your regional camp season starts.

What types of organizations most benefit from upgrading?

Organizations that have a lot of events: ALL events appear at the top of the calendar during the months in which you are upgraded. Got lots of events? They are all at the top. It's super cost-effective, because you just pay by the organization, not by the activity you're trying to promote.

Organizations that fall into a lot of categories: An indoor play center that also has birthday parties and also does summer programs will be featured with graphics in the top section of ALL of the lists for the time in which they are upgraded. You pay once for the organization, not by the number of pages on which you appear.

Organizations that have summer camps: Our summer camp calendar weeks are LONG, and it is easy to get a little lost in the middle of them. Upgraded camp listings--especially if you have posted several different camps happening at the same time--really stand out to the parents who are shopping our camp calendars.

Organizations that care to be featured above competitors: When it matters to you to look more professional and appealing than your competitors on our list, upgrading is super-effective.

What types of organizations do not really benefit from upgrading?

Organizations that do not need to attract new visitors or attendees: If you have a core group of visitors who always come to your activities and you don't need to reach beyond that group, there really is no point in paying for additional visibility.

Organizations that never charge for their activities or have no financial stake in drawing visitors: Unless you have a grant to purchase additional visibility, many not-for-profits such as libraries do not have marketing budgets. In that case, just make sure to do the free stuff: Post to our calendars! We love having you on there!

Organizations that never have events: If you provide services to individual families like physicians' offices or physical therapy or special needs services, or if you're a bricks-and-mortar store, we have other types of ways you can be additionally visible to our readers, which often cost less than upgrading. Contact us for more information!

Is there an advantage to being continually upgraded?

Why yes, there is. You keep your rank on the list! Those who upgraded earliest appear highest in the list. Stay continually upgraded, and you'll never lose your spot. (For organizations that are seasonal, like farms, we offer an off-season rate for those months in which you are closed to the public.)

How much does upgrading cost?

Upgrading costs $95/month, and that has not changed since 2010. You can upgrade for as many months as you like. There is a discount for pre-paying for a year in advance; contact us for more information about this. There is also usually a discount when an annual upgrade is part of a larger package.

What kinds of other ways can I effectively promote my activities, products, or services on KidsOutAndAbout?

We have two types of advertising: Content advertising, and image advertising.

CONTENT ADVERTISING: We consider upgrades to be an aspect of content advertising, as it is promoting your content specially to our audience. Other types of content advertising include paragraphs in our weekly e-newsletter, content ads at the top of "highlights" pages like birthday parties, holiday activities, indoor play centers, special needs, etc.

IMAGE ADVERTISING: Image ads are what people typically think of when they say they want to buy an ad. We have leaderboard advertising at the top of the page, large "top ad" advertising (the "To Kill a Mockingbird" space in the example above), and square ads which sometimes run underneath the green navigation bar and sometimes stacked on the right side as you see in the example. These types of ads are priced at approximately $100 for every 9000 times they are shown to our audience.